Beneath The Light

7. Different Rules For Us All

Different Rules For Us All

Topaz was worrying a hole in the carpet of the Nightingale suite when her brother and Aden finally returned. "At last, I called you a bloody half hour ago, this is serious!" She shouted. Her brothers were downstairs in the arcade, there was no way they'd know about any of this. "We got back as soon as we could, what's happened?" Zac asked; shrugging out of his leather jacket as Aden went to his sister by the window. "We found something, in case you hadn't quite figured that out already. Mam and dad, they kept a huge drawer filled with bewitched files." Zac frowned. "I don't understand...?"

"Let me spell this out for you..." Topaz was loosing patience. Why was she the only one who was freaked out about this? "Our parents kept a drawer full of files which were so top-secret and confidential that they had a witch put a charm on them so that no one could read them except from them and the witch who charmed them." Zac frowned and ran a hand over his face. "Well that doesn't necessarily mean anything bad Paz." Topaz almost choked, or projectile vomited on her brother's face. "Doesn't necessarily mean anything bad? Are you listening to yourself right now?!" Topaz was shaking her head in awe, her now ginger hair swinging in its high bobble. Her and Alice were still wearing the basic clothes they'd worn to the offices earlier. "Their buildingis the most secured Norant building in London! Their floor is guarded by Worlders, and they have two heavyweight mermaid security guards standing outside the locked door to their office, which has only one key to open every door and drawer, and that key I've worn around my neck since I took it from our dad's password protected briefcase on the night he died." Topaz could see in Zac's eyes the fact that he knew she was right. "You know that whatever these files are, they're not meant to be seen by you or me or anybody else. Even in the event of their own Death!" Zac was nodding his head, pacing back and forth, trying to figure out the possibilities of what this might mean. "We have to find the witch who decoded it, Zac." Topaz sighed after a long silence. The Angels were silent in the corner; so silent Topaz had forgotten they were there. "That's impossible, she could be anywhere by now, we don't know how old these papers are!"

"Well we have to try!" Topaz could feel herself growing lighter and lighter as her emotions changed from heavy anger to the light and airy feeling of heartache. Compared to her angry stages, being sad was a whole lot worse. Topaz would prefer to be laid down with a thousand tons of anger than floating around lightly in a cloud of upset or depression. Zac stormed to Topaz and put a hand on either of her shoulders, bending slightly to look his sister in the eye. "Paz..." His voice was gentle and broken. This pained him to say, but Topaz knew that his next words were sincere. "I loved our parents. I did. They gave us life. But they didn't love us. I'm not going to spend the rest of my life tearing myself apart trying to uncover their killer. Not for a one-sided relationship." And with his words he spun, and stormed out of the suite without so much as a glance back.

Alice felt Zac's words as if she was Topaz and they had been a slap to the face. As soon as he was out the door she stood and hurried silently to the broken mermaid. Gently she lowered her hand onto her shoulder, frightened to startle or anger her. Mermaids cried blood, because they couldn't cry water, or else they'd change into their natural forms. A blood-drop fell onto the back of Alice's hand as Topaz looked down at the Angel's kind gesture. Alice was half-smiling at the mermaid, showing her that she cared. Topaz looked deep into her eyes for a moment before fleeing from the suite after her brother. "What do we do now?" Aden whispered to his sister, the pair just as frightened as the broken mermaid. "We have to find them, make sure neither doesn't do something they're going to regret." Aden swallowed loudly before saying, "You go, you know more than I do about hunting. I'll stay here, in case they come back."